1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to keycard readers. More specifically, this invention relates to keycard readers in which the reader is generally part of a door lock as in a hotel, and the keycard is in the form of a preferably stiffly flexible card, perforated or otherwise coded to be read in the reader.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are several showings in the prior art of keycard readers adapted for use on door locks. An example is shown in the Reissue Pat. No. 29,846 based on U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,021 which issued Dec. 16, 1975 to Leonard J. Genest et al. Earlier showings exemplify the problem connected with structures of the prior art. In such structures, the card is in the form of a more or less rigid flat rectangular structure which is inserted into a slot in the door lock escutcheon, the slot having generally a straight, inclined channel adjacent the handle of the door. The channel includes a reader. Typically, the arrangement is installed in the door of a hotel room and the guest is given a keycard at the front desk, which keycard is perforated or otherwise coded to be read by the reader prior to the unlocking of the door.
The keycard readers of the past have had straight key-receiving channels and often been vulnerable to idiotic vandalism during which coins, paper, sticks, etc. have been stuffed in the receiving slot of the reader. With such material wedged into the opening, the reader has been rendered inoperative and technicians have had to be sent up to restore the unit to operation.
Also, the straight keycard-receiving channels of the prior art have been inclined from the vertical to provide a convenient insertion angle for the user. Because of the length of the card and the related parts, however, this has often required a larger hole in the door to permit the mounting of a reader designed with an angled and straight keycard-receiving channel. The larger hole has resulted in a weakening of the door such that indeed sometimes the door would fail to pass the required fire safety codes.